Archy (software)
These ideas include content persistence, modelessness, a nucleus with commands instead of applications, navigation using incremental text search, and a zooming user interface (ZUI).
Archy in large part builds on Raskin's earlier work with the Apple Macintosh, Canon Cat, SwyftWare, and Ken Perlin's Pad ZUI system.
Archy is more radically different from established systems than are Sun Microsystems' Project Looking Glass and Microsoft Research's "Task Gallery" prototype.
While these systems build upon the WIMP desktop paradigm, Archy has been compared as similar to the Emacs text editor, although its design begins from a clean slate.
This ambitious plan to build a general purpose environment that is easy to use for anyone is based on designing for the common cognitive capabilities of all humans.
In order to achieve this, modal features of current graphical user interfaces, like windows and separate software applications, are removed.
Universal and unlimited undo is one key element for the design goals stated in The Humane Interface, since it allows for all the user's work to be recovered in any case.
The system provides two commands, Leap-forward and Leap-backward, invoked through dedicated keys (meant to be pressed with the thumbs), that move the cursor to the next and prior position that contains the search string.
Extra information on an item is provided by "flying" closer to inspect it, and the destinations of hyperlinks are inserted in-place instead of being represented by textual reference.
Archy's project developed some guidelines for Zoomworld and a working proof of concept, but the built prototype did not include code for zooming.
Project members claim that a similar, but limited, zooming interface was tested in real world applications with remarkable success.
In November 2017, Aza Raskin changed the license to the MIT License[2] The interface and functionality of The Humane Environment was compared and found similar to the Emacs editor[3] for its text-based interface without dialog boxes, and its reliance on incremental search and a modifier key for issuing commands.
